Florida Gators
You can’t talk Florida-Georgia history without Herschel Walker
It’s been 35 years since he was last involved, but talk to any Florida Gators or Georgia Bulldogs and ask who’s the most singular dominant player in the long history of their series? The simple answer is: Herschel Walker.
Walker burst on the scene in 1980 and in a remarkable National Championship run that year for the ‘Dawgs, announced his presence in the rivalry right away. 238 of the toughest sledgehammer yards as a freshman in Georgia’s dramatic last minute win. Obviously, everyone talks about Buck Belue completing the pass to Lindsay Scott for his catch and run to keep UGA unbeaten. But, 238 yards rushing?
That’s still the record in the rivalry….. 37 years later.
The 1981 season Walker followed up with a mere 192 yards rushing, including a dramatic up and over score on the goal line in the fourth quarter, as Georgia once again triumphed 26-21.
Then came the most memorable of his three appearances.
219 yards of pure pile-driving domination in a Bulldogs 44-0 rout of what had been a 20th ranked Florida team. Walker ran over, through, carried and bulldozed the Orange and Blue defense that day and it’s still talked about in the 2010’s.
That’s a total of 649 rushing yards in just three meetings. Or 216 yards per game average in the three Bulldog wins. Staggering.
Herschel would go on to the 1982 Heisman Trophy and eventually turn pro, going to the USFL and yes, Donald Trump’s New Jersey Generals. (above)
But long before his USFL and later NFL success, he was smashing Gators.
Observe the quick montage of Herschel’s TD highlights, just from the Florida series:
Say what you want about how good present day running back’s Nick Chubb and Sony Michel are for the unbeaten 2017 Georgia team, and they are good. They aren’t in the same realm of size, power running and speed, as Herschel Walker was with his three year results against the Gators to back it up.
No one is… or apparently, ever will be.
The Florida Gators continued their philosophy of striking “home-and-home” deals with Power 5 opposition, when they announced on Friday that they will be doing so with the Cal-Berkley Bears out of the Pac-12 coming later in this decade.
The Gators made the announcement through their website and social media mid-day Friday that they will play Cal at home first and then travel to Berkeley the following year:
Coast to coast❗
🐻 at 🐊 2026
🐊 at 🐻 2027#GoGators📰 https://t.co/HvZVGcf6ct pic.twitter.com/ClB7XmGXqt
— Gators Football (@GatorsFB) February 7, 2020
A.D. Scott Stricklin has broken up the long tradition that Florida would only play two home out of conference games in September and usually, against much lesser competition before entering SEC play. Stricklin has been very outspoken that in the age of the College Football Playoff, strength of schedule is emphasized and the selection committee holds schools responsible for not playing top-notch out of conference opponents, at least some of the time.
With that in mind, the Gators opened the 2019 season in Orlando against the Miami Hurricanes and won a sloppy game. And, they already have other Power 5 schools laid out to play home and away.
As we previously wrote, Florida will be playing the Texas Longhorns first in Gainesville in 2030 and then. return the game the following year in Austin.
Florida had previously announced last year that they will also play the Colorado Buffaloes out of the Pac-12, again with the first game in Gainesville in 2028 and then, returning it to Boulder the following season.
It’s interesting with Friday’s announcement that Stricklin and the football program are working backwards with the schedule. And, they will now play Cal before Colorado in September of 2026, and then will be opening on the Berkeley campus the following season.
Florida and Cal have only met two times, having played first in Gainesville in 1974 as the Gators wo 21 – 17 and then, they also met in Tampa to open the 1980 season with a Florida 41-13 blowout victory.
National Signing Day 2020 has come and gone, and several in state schools were able to improve their classes heading into spring ball. The University of Florida watched rival Georgia secure the number one overall class, but the Gators were still able to land the best class in the state with the number eight class overall.
The Gators officially signed former five-star receiver Justin Shorter from Penn State, and Florida stayed in the family today as well, Xzavier Henderson officially joined the Gators. He’s the ounger brother of former DB C.J. Henderson.
Dan Mullen also able to dip into the state of Texas inking four-star DE Princely Umanmielen. It wasn’t all great news for the Gators, as they missed out on a few key guys, including losing out on arguably top state safety Avantae Williams to in state rival Miami. Overall it was a good cycle for the Gators both recruiting and in the transfer portal.
The Miami Hurricanes continued an impressive offseason on National Signing Day. The Canes made arguably the biggest move in the state by landing Williams and keeping him Florida. Williams became the highest rated Hurricane in the class and propelled the U to the number 13 spot.
Miami has the second-best class in the ACC behind Clemson. With an impressive offseason in the books, once again excitement will be in the air in Coral Gables. The question is: will they live up to it in year two for Manny Diaz?
Florida State and new coach Mike Norvell have been working hard to get this class rolling last minute. After a good early National Signing Day Norvell looked to keep the momentum going. The Noles took a big hit Wednesday though, with the loss of Venice four star WR, Malachi Wideman, who flipped to Tennessee.
The Noles came back from that by landing a handful of other recruits. They got the number six Juco running back La’Damian Webb, ass well as, Robert Scott, an offensive lineman and Corey Wren, an athlete/running back.
Replacing Cam Akers will be tough for Norvell and building the offensive line is a top priority. The former Memphis coach came in late like he did, yet he finishes with a decent class sitting at 22 on 24/7.
Now the work begins turning around the former powerhouse.